In 1887 Nellie Bly, one of the first female
newspaper writers, and a young reporter who would soon go on to make a career
for herself as an investigative journalist and stunt reporter, had herself
committed to the Blackwell'sIsland Insane Asylum in New York. Her
purpose was to discover what life was like for those who had been deemed insane.
She was surprised to discover the depth of mistreatment of the patients.
Partially as a result of her reporting, more money was allocated to the asylum
and reforms were put into place.